THWACK

The sound of a heavy, leatherbound book hitting the table would have caused Robin Buckley to jump, had she not been startled already the first three times Nancy had done it. She peered at the newest addition to the pile that had steadily been growing over the last ten minutes. 15th Century Myths and Legends - and the Creatures they Inspired. She raised an eyebrow as she picked it up and studied the faded, renaissance era etching of a swamp-like creature on the cover.

Nancy put a hand on her hips and huffed, looking over her collection. "I think this should be good."

Robin lowered the book, adding it to the massive pile with a smirk. "Gee, Nance, you think this is gonna be enough?"

Nancy rolled her eyes and slid into the chair beside her. She cracked open one of the bigger tomes and started flipping through the pages. "It doesn't hurt to be prepared. I have a feeling we're not going to find as much as we want here so the more sources we can get, the better."

The girls had set up a little 'research station' of sorts at the local library. Nancy wanted to get as much information about what was going on with Eddie as possible. They'd had success researching Henry Creel's case, so it only seemed logical they'd be able to glean at least a little insight that could help their situation. Nancy searched through the fiction, history, mythological, and even medical sections to get her hands on anything that might give them some answers. They studied most of the day, tearing through every book on the table. Well, if we're being honest here - Nancy did most of the heavy lifting, since Robin would only read two paragraphs before needing to take an extended break.

As Nancy struggled over a particularly complicated and wordy chapter from a book entitled Ancient Diseases, she sat back and sighed, finally just slamming it shut. She hadn't absorbed a thing since page two. Robin jolted up with a startled noise and wiped a bit of drool from the corner of her mouth. She may or may not have nodded off about twenty minutes prior.

"This is hopeless ." Nancy groaned, covering her face.

Robin yawned and shifted back up in her seat, resting her cheek on her hand. "No luck?" She mumbled sleepily.

"None of these books are telling us anything we don't already know." Nancy dropped her hands and shook her head in frustration. "I mean aside from the fact that Eddie is a type of -" She paused, lowering her voice when someone passed by their table, " - vampire that literally no one knows about aside from us. We've got nothing to go on and no way to prepare. Whatever happened to Eddie in the Upside Down could happen again."

Robin's brows furrowed and she lowered her voice. "You think so?"

"We've all heard the reports." Nancy whispered.

It was true, reports of strange occurrences were happening all over the area. Violent deaths, missing bodies, monster sightings. There were plenty of cryptid conspiracists in Hawkins, so no one paid much attention to the stories about winged, bat-like demons roaming around the outskirts of town, but Nancy and Robin knew better. They'd faced off against similar creatures the night Eddie died, it only made sense that it was all somehow connected. Whatever turned Eddie into what he is now may very well be alive and in preying on Hawkins. Robin chewed her lip and nodded, looking down at her hands.

"Maybe we should call it a night." She offered. Nancy just looked dismayed at the thought of another dead end, so Robin reached over and took her hand. "We can come back tomorrow. Okay?"

"Okay." Nancy said quietly, she gave Robin's hand a squeeze and looked up with a small smile. "Thank you for coming with me today. I know it wasn't the most fun thing in the world."

Robin stood up with her and chuckled, her freckles scrunching up with her nose. "It was fun because it was with you."

When they returned to Nancy's house, Mike, Will, and Eleven were seated around the living room playing monopoly. Mike was frantically explaining to Will that he couldn't just land on his property without paying any taxes, meanwhile Eleven, having been designated the banker, sat tiredly with a handful of cash, idly playing with the tiny metal top hat. Nancy walked into the room and put her hands on her hips.

"Can you guys keep it down? It's late. You shouldn't even be up." She said, annoyed.

Mike made a face at her. "Okay, mom."

Nancy glared at him. "Don't say I didn't warn you when our actual mom comes downstairs and kicks your ass for being a little... -" Her cheeks reddened as she tried to come up with a retort. "- nerd!" She turned and plopped down at the kitchen table with a huff.

Mike raised an eyebrow and frowned, unamused by her lame insult. "What's up with you?"

"We didn't have much luck at the library." Robin answered. "It's another dead end."

"It's just," Nancy huffed, shaking her head, and throwing up her hands, "we searched all day for anything that might help us fix Eddie, but we didn't find a single bit of helpful information. He's not even a stereotypical vampire - he drinks blood, but he can go out in the sun, he can see his own reflection, be around religious symbols; I just don't know what exactly to call him." They all sat there racking their brains for something, anything, but nothing came to them.

Nancy sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, when all of a sudden, Will broke the silence. "He kind of sounds like a dhampir."

They all turned to look at him. Robin raised an eyebrow. "A what?"

He looked around at everyone as if it were obvious. "A dhampir. Half human, half vampire. You know... from D ? They're not exactly like typical vampires but they still need blood."

"Dude, yeah!" Mike piped up. "The only way dhampirs can be made is even they're either bitten by a vampire or if their parents are a vampire and a human."

"Which, Eddie's obviously are not." Will added.

Nancy looked between them like they'd grown a third eye. She shook her head, annoyed. "Guys, can we please be serious for two seconds? I know you like dragons and - whatever but this is real life. Not some game."

"No... Nance, it kind of makes sense." Robin offered with a wince. Nancy looked at her incredulously. "Eddie was bitten by the bat things in the Upside Down. Maybe those monsters are like a parasitic vampire thingy." When Nancy still looked confused, Robin sighed and sat in front of her. "If they're a parasite, their main goal is to infect as many hosts as possible, right? Eddie is just someone who got infected."

"Why did it take five months for him to come back, though? How did he even come back in the first place?" Nancy asked.

"... I don't know." Robin sighed. "Maybe whatever brought him back also brought the demobats with them, the ones that are popping up all over Hawkins."

Eleven, having been quiet up until now, frowned and thought for a moment. "When I entered Eddie's mind... I saw something else. Something that wasn't supposed to be there." Worry splashed across their faces as they listened to her. "It was... big. I couldn't see it but... I felt it all around me. Like it was just watching me."

"Like... Vecna?" Will whispered.

She shook her head. "Different."

Robin glanced up at Nancy. "That doesn't sound good."

Nancy sucked in a breath and nodded, staring down at the table. "No, it doesn't."

A week later and Steve still hadn't brought up his feelings to Eddie.

How could he, when Eddie was now getting a nightmare almost every other night? It was becoming debilitating for the metalhead as he ran on a max total of about three hours of sleep per night. Steve had stopped sleeping in his parent's room all together, electing to take up the space on the floor next to Eddie so that he could be there when he inevitably tore out of bed and hit the bathroom tile. The routine was always the same, Eddie got up, Steve helped him through the aftershock of the night terror, and they finally returned to bed, but Eddie rarely got any sleep afterwards. Harrington's back was killing him from a week straight of sleeping on the floor, but it didn't matter. He could handle a bit of discomfort if it meant making sure Eddie was okay.

Around 4 AM, like clockwork, Eddie woke up with a cry, jolting Steve awake. He quickly grabbed the trash can by the bed and handed it to him. Then, he moved to the other side of the bed to gather his hair, tying it into a loose ponytail.

"It's alright buddy, just let it out." He murmured, rubbing his back. Eddie shuddered as his nausea tore over him, waves of varying, awful intensity raked through his body. When it was finally over, he laid back against the pillow and wiped the tears that had gathered in his eyes. Steve put the trash can down and took the ponytail out of his hair, trying to be gentle. "You okay?" He asked. Eddie nodded a bit and swallowed; eyes screwed shut. Harrington moved to stand, but Eddie grabbed his wrist.

"W-Wait." He said quietly, a little more desperately than he intended. "Just… stay here. Please."

Steve smiled at him, reassuringly. "I'm right here, Munson, I'm not going anywhere."

Eddie shook his head and held his wrist, keeping him still. Steve frowned a bit in confusion, until it finally dawned on him what Eddie meant. He felt his cheeks heat up. "Are you sure?" Eddie just nodded, burying his face a bit more into the pillow. Steve's brows furrowed, and he leaned in a little more. "Eddie, come on, talk to me."

Reluctantly, he looked up, and when he did, Steve realized that his eyes were welling. The tears he'd been fighting finally rolled down his cheeks onto the pillow. Seeing this, Steve quickly sat back on the bed and cupped his cheek. "Hey, hey. It's okay. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere." He lifted the covers and scooted in next to him, blanketing them both in warmth. Eddie nuzzled into Steve, just relieved not to be alone. He was sick and tired of waking up by himself and so so thankful that Steve was here. He let Harrington rub circles into his back, let himself be soothed and taken care of.

Steve couldn't help but watch the man in front of him, tracing his gaze across his eyes, his nose, the way he bit his lip, trying to quell his nerves, watching as his body slowly relaxed. The shaking steadily stopped, as did the ragged breathing that slowly turned into deep, quiet breaths in sleep. Steve reached up and cupped his cheek, wiping away the last of the drying tears with his thumb. His eyes eventually grew heavy, his breathing falling into sync with Eddie's as he drifted into slumber, finally getting a full night's sleep.

When the sunlight filtered through the curtains - finally too bright to keep the pair asleep - it was around 10 AM, later than either of them had slept in weeks. Eddie muttered groggily as he stirred from his rest. He felt warm and cozier than he had in a very long time, savoring the sleepy comfort he felt in his mind as he nuzzled his cheek into Steve's chest.

Wait. Steve's chest.

He cracked an eye open in realization and looked up at the man beside him. Somehow in the night, they'd maneuvered into a cuddling position, legs splayed together. He felt his heart leap into his throat. Steve laid on his back, arm draped over Eddie while Munson had curled into his side, arm thrown over his midsection. Oh god. He shifted to squirm out from under him, but Steve grumbled and tightened his arm around Eddie, bringing him even closer. Eddie could have died right there. He couldn't see Steve's face, but he knew the other man was still fast asleep. At this rate, there was no way they weren't going to be stuck there for a while. Eddie racked his brain for a way to get out of this situation. It's not that he didn't want to be cuddling with Steve Harrington, because it was, in fact, it was turning his brain into a mushy, gooey mess. He wanted nothing more than to stay like that for the rest of the morning, but what would Steve do if he realized what was going on? Would he put even more distance between them? Would he stop helping Eddie through his night terrors? It wasn't a possibility Eddie wanted to explore.

Suddenly, Steve mumbled something and stretched a bit, finally waking up. Shit shit shit. He tried to maneuver away, but he was too slow, the movement causing Steve to wince and open his eyes. He looked down at Eddie, bleary eyed, slowly processing. When it finally clicked, his cheeks flushed bright red. Too afraid and unsure of what to do, Eddie froze and pretended to still be asleep... not much he could do about it now. Maybe he could still play it off like an accident and wake up later. He expected Steve to push him off or move away, but to his surprise, he didn't. In fact, he felt Steve's arms tighten around him. A deep sigh escaped Steve's chest as he laid his cheek on Eddie's mess of hair. Munson's eyes fluttered closed at the affection. It was so unexpected, but so so warm. Maybe he was still asleep. Maybe he could just... stay there a little while longer.

And they did. They laid together for a while. Both pretending to be asleep, neither willing to break the embrace. It was their little secret.